


Introductions, Made

by SeraphimSilver



Series: Home. Family. Made. [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adopted Children, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Families of Choice, Fluff and Angst, Gen, M/M, Mentions of Other Voltron Paladins, POV Original Character, Post-Canon, Unconventional Families, families
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 02:16:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16986231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeraphimSilver/pseuds/SeraphimSilver
Summary: Seven years since she told him she loved him.Seven years since she’d heard him reply with a soft smile, “I love you too, Mama.”





	Introductions, Made

**Author's Note:**

> A prequel to my fic, "Family, Made". Takes place about two years prior.

She was sitting on a kitchen chair, crying. 

 

It was ten in the morning, the sky was a crisp clear blue, birds were chirping in the garden, a gentle breeze carried the sounds of laughing children and rolling waves through the open windows, and Elise Ramirez was crying, again. 

 

Over something stupid.

 

Over something that should be trash.

 

_ An Introduction to the Galaxy Garrison _

 

She’d found it while sorting through some old files. A brochure Lance had received with his acceptance package. One part of a bulky envelope filled with forms, letters, pamphlets, lists, rules, regulations, class assignments, schedules, and her baby boy’s hopes and dreams.

 

_ An Introduction to the Galaxy Garrison _

 

More like an introduction to her family’s worst nightmare.

 

Seven years it had been. Seven years since she had seen her precious baby’s face on the comm screen, heard his voice. Heard him excitedly describe his studies, boast about how smart his teammates were and how lucky he was to have them. Seven years since she had scolded him as he bashfully admitted to showing off in the flight simulators.

 

Seven years since she told him she loved him.

 

Seven years since she’d heard him reply with a soft smile, “I love you too, Mama.”

 

Seven years since a stoic Garrison officer had knocked on her door,  _ We regret to inform you… _

 

Seven years since she’d learned that, actually, the Garrison  _ wasn’t _ going to inform her of anything, no matter how much she begged, or pleaded, or screamed in righteous fury. That the true fate of her son and his friends were classified, held as closely to the government’s breast as the facts surrounding the Kerberos mission.

 

_ How do you do it?  _ she’d once asked Colleen Holt. It had been three years since their children had disappeared, four since Sam and Matt had disappeared along with their pilot. She and Colleen and Hunk’s mother Maggie met regularly for coffee and comfort and solace,three mothers bonding over a mutual loss.  _ How do you go on, living everyday, knowing that they have the truth but won’t give it to you? _

 

Colleen didn’t reply right away, silently contemplating her coffee.  _ You just do, _ she’d finally said.  _ You just do because you don’t have any other choice. So you go to work and you pay the bills, you buy the groceries, you make the dinners, you pass out candy to the trick or treaters and decorate for Christmas. You mark the birthdays and the anniversaries.  _

 

_ And,  _ she looked up and met their eyes. First Maggie, then Elise’s,  _ you remind those bastards, as often as you can, that you’re still here. You’re still here, and you know they took your babies away, and you aren’t going to forget that, and you aren’t going to stop demanding to know WHY. _

 

They hadn’t stopped. They reminded the Garrison, at every opportunity, that they were still here, that they hadn’t forgotten, that they still expected answers. And it helped, for the most part. It gave Elise the strength to get through each day, to do all the little things living required being done. To be mother to her remaining children, grandmother to her grandbabies, wife to her loving husband. Most of the time, it was enough.

 

Right now, it wasn’t.

 

What would Lance be doing right now? He would have graduated three years ago now. Would he have already gone on a mission? Would he have gone to explore the moons of Jupiter, of Saturn? Would he have followed in his hero’s footsteps and gone to Kerberos?

 

Would he have gone beyond Kerberos?

 

Elise looked at the brochure in her hands again and drew a deep breath, letting it out in a heavy sigh before wiping her eyes. She needed to pull herself together. Tomorrow was Sunday, and ever since Lance had disappeared her other children had fallen into a habit of coming home on Sundays to spend the day with their parents. She was so grateful for this new routine, this opportunity to see for herself, frequently, that none of her other children or their children had disappeared. But there was work to do to prepare for the family gathering. There was laundry and cleaning to do, shopping to be done, food to be prepared for tomorrow’s dinner, and should she make chocolate chip cookies or sugar cookies this week? The boys loved chocolate chip, but little Nita loved to decorate the soft sugar cookies with her abuela…

 

The ringing of the doorbell interrupted her musings. She set the brochure down on the table as she stood and made her way to the door, frowning as she considered who it could be. The kids weren’t expected until tomorrow, but it wasn’t unusual for someone to show up early to help out. But the kids all had their own keys. A neighbor maybe? Hopefully not another journalist. They didn’t come as frequently as they had in the first few years, but every now and again a stray one popped up, trying to find a new angle to Lance’s disappearance.

 

She opened the door, thinking she was prepared for anything.

 

She looked into those startling blue eyes, and felt her heart stop.

 

She wasn’t prepared for this.

 

_ So tall _ , was her first thought. Lance had only been a couple inches taller than her when he left for the Garrison, but this man was easily six feet, if not taller. And broad, as if he had grown to carry weights her Lance had never even dreamed of. A scar slashed across his right cheek where Lance’s skin had always been so smooth and well cared for. The hooded jacket looked familiar, but so faded, and she could see where it had been mended in a few places. Instead of Lance’s usual t-shirt and jeans he wore an odd tunic and slacks that shimmered in a strange way in the sunlight. His hair was the same chocolate brown, but long all the way around, as if he were a few weeks overdue for a haircut. And the sun shining down on it made it obvious it was liberally sprinkled through with gray, so much gray for such a young man.

 

But those eyes, those beautiful, striking blue eyes that she had cherished from the moment a newborn Lance had opened his eyes to gaze at his mama. They were lined with an obvious bone-deep weariness, and shadows lurked in their depths, but they were still her precious baby boy’s eyes.

 

New tears sprang to her own eyes as she felt her heart begin to hammer its way through her ribs. “La.. _.Lance _ ?” she choked out, hoping against hope, because she had imagined this scenario so many times, so many ways, but she had been let down over and over and  _ over _ , seven years worth of heart-crushing disappointment, so how could this be real, how could any of this be real,  _ Dear God let this be real you cruel bastard. _

 

The man smiled, and oh God, that was her Lance’s smile, and then he spoke, “ _ Si _ , Mama. I’m home,” and oh dear God in Heaven it was deeper and huskier, but it was still her baby’s voice, her baby boy, who she hadn’t heard in over seven years-

 

_ I love you too, Mama. _

 

_ Mama. I’m home. _

 

A sob wrenched itself violently from her throat as she grabbed for him, needing the assurance only physical touch could bring. He took her hands and gently drew her against him, wrapping his arms around her as she sobbed and babbled into his chest, a litany of  _ my baby _ and _ I’ve missed you so much _ and  _ how can this be real are you really here  _ chanted in a mix of English and Spanish as he held her tightly, like  _ she _ would disappear if he let go.

 

“I’m sorry, Mama. I’m so, so sorry,” he whispered into her hair, his voice thick with grief and guilt, “I’m so sorry.”

 

“But where have you been?! What happened to you? And why did the Garrison finally let you go?” Elise demanded through her tears, pulling back to look at her son’s face. “Why now?”

 

Lance chuckled, a mirthless, bitter laugh she’d never heard from him before. “The Garrison had nothing to do with it, Mama,” he told her. ”In fact, they nearly screwed us all over before they even knew what we would be dealing with.”

 

Elise frowned. “I don’t understand,  _ mijo _ .”

 

Lance nodded, “I know, and I promise to explain everything. But first,” his face softened as he smiled, “there are some introductions I need to make.” He turned and beckoned to someone standing a bit down the walk.

 

Elise watched in confusion as the stranger approached. He was as tall as Lance, maybe a few years older, and dressed in a similar tunic and slacks. His stark white hair was cut short except for a patch at the front that fell over his eyes. There was a scar across his face, running over the bridge of his nose, and a quick flash drew her eye to his right hand, which seemed to be encased in a strange metallic glove. While his overall appearance was strange and unfamiliar, she couldn’t quite shake the sudden notion she’d seen him somewhere before.

 

Lance’s smile grew wider as the man came closer, and he reached out for the stranger’s left hand and intertwined their fingers. He then turned back to Elise. “Mama, this is my husband, Takashi Shirogane.”

 

The stranger smiled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Ramirez.”

 

Elise couldn’t answer, overwhelmed by shock. There had been a sudden  _ click _ in her brain as she recognized- “Shi-Shirogane?! The Kerberos pilot?!  _ That _ SHIROGANE?!” Shiro ducked his head with a blush as Lance grinned and nodded. “What?-where?-how?” Elise sputtered before drawing in a full breath and fixing her wayward son with A Look and jabbing a finger into his chest. “Lance Rafael Hernando Ramirez, what the  _ hell _ have you been doing?” she demanded.

 

Lance,  _ that little imp _ , laughed. “Soon, Mama, I promise. You should meet the rest of the family first.”

 

“The rest of-?”

 

“IS THAT HER? IS THAT OUR ABUELA?” A childish voice pierced the relative quiet of the neighborhood. She looked towards the street to see a small...something...barrel its way down the sidewalk. Two more small figures tumbled out of the open door of the minivan she hadn’t noticed before, chasing after the first figure while one despairingly called out,  _ “Cael!” _

 

The first small figure had barged his way past Shiro and Lance and just barely managed to stop before plowing into Elise. She looked down to see...a little satyr. His gold and rust eyes shone as he bounced up and down,  _ clop-clop-clopping _ against the pavement as he bubbled over with excitement and eagerness.

 

“Hi! Hi!” he exclaimed. “My name’s Cael! I’m six years old! I’m from space! I live in a castle that’s a spaceship! I live there with my Papa and my Daddy and Sera and Saki and Uncle Keith and Uncle Hunk and Auntie Pidge and Uncle Coran and Auntie Princess Allura! And space mice! And big robot lions that are all different colors! And that can smash together to make a great big robot man! My Papa and Daddy can fly two of the lions! They fight bad guys! Papa said they beat the baddest bad guy so it was ok to come visit you! Earth is so cool! I wanna go see the ocean! And eat pizza and cheeseburgers and ice cream and cookies! And, and, and-”

 

“Cael,” Lance broke in, sounding slightly exasperated. “You were supposed to stay in the car with your sisters until Dad and I said it was ok to come out.”

 

Cael stopped mid bounce. “Oh.” He visibly deflated and toed the ground, eyes downcast. “‘M sorry, Papa, I forgot,” he said softly.

 

Elise laughed. She couldn’t help it; no matter how different he looked, Cael was her Lance all over again. Cael peeked up at her, confusion written across his face. Elise smiled as she bent closer to him, hands on her knees. “I am your abuela,  _ precioso _ , and I am so very happy to meet you. I can’t wait to hear all your stories about living in space. Come inside with your sisters, and we can make cookies while you tell me everything.”

 

The little boy visibly brightened “We can  _ make _ cookies?” At Elise’s nod he whooped in delight and charged back down the sidewalk. “Sera! Saki! Abuela says we can  _ make _ cookies! Come on!” He grabbed the girls’ hands and pulled them back toward the house, chattering excitedly about how he couldn’t wait to try Earth cookies because Uncle Hunk said Earth cookies were the  _ best _ cookies and Uncle Hunk knew  _ everything _ about yummy food. Laughing, Elise shepherded all of them into the house and into the kitchen.

 

She was pulling a mixing bowl from the cabinet when she happened to glance over and see Lance holding something. With a start she realized it was the brochure she had been crying over barely half an hour ago. In contrast, Lance smiled softly as he looked at the glossy cover. She watched as Shiro stepped up to Lance’s side, leaning over to speak quietly in his ear. Still smiling Lance replied just as quietly as he looked up at his husband. Shiro returned his smile before leaning in to exchange a soft kiss with Lance.

 

And, as Lance playfully chased Shiro out of the kitchen because “He can’t cook, Mama, he’s an absolute disaster”, and Shiro mock-pouted about being banished, as Cael accidently dumped out half a bag of flour while trying to measure half a cup, as Serafina sloshed ingredients onto the counter while stirring them “really really good” and little green fingers snuck into the chocolate chip bag when Sakura didn’t think anyone was watching, as laughter and delighted shouts and hugs and kisses and the smell of fresh baked cookies filled the air, a realization began to grow in Elise.

 

And when Lance’s father came home, first too stunned by the scene before him to move, then too choked by years’ worth of tears unshed to speak as he held his prodigal son in a fierce hug, as he found his voice to welcome Shiro to the family and thank him for bringing Lance home, to call Sera  _ bella _ and Saki  _ florecita,  _ to tell Cael with a smile the cookies he helped make were the best Earth cookies his abuelo had ever had, that realization crystallized into a certainty.

 

Their family’s introduction to the Garrison might have begun as a nightmare. But it was ending as the most beautiful dream come true.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I made myself cry while writing this. Hazards of writing a mom while being a mom, I suppose.
> 
> Comments and kudos feed the muse!
> 
>  
> 
> [Tumblr thing](https://seraphimsilver.tumblr.com)  
> [Twitter thing](https://twitter.com/seraphimsilver)


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